Handwashing Facility

Synonyms / Other Terms Used

Washing Facility, Washing Facilities, Washroom, Washbasins

Category

Public Facilities, Hygiene

Message / Function

For notice in general and to indicate a place where hands can be washed resp. where there are washrooms

	Source	Description
	ISO 7010	Tap in side view, two hands below, one in outline, three dotted lines from tap to hands
	Tern	Tap in side view, hand below, three dotted lines from tap to hand
	CNIS	Tap in side view, hand below, three dotted lines from tap to hand
	UIC 413	Tap in side view, outline of a hand below, water represented by three vertical dotted lines
74	UIC 413 b	Tap in side view, outline of a hand below, water represented by four lines with ends as dots
	DER	Tap in side view, hand below, four short lines between
	Transport for London	Tap in side view, hand below, three lines made of dashes from tap to hand
	BS 8501:2002	Tap in side view, hand below, three lines made of dashes from tap to hand
	Avanti LID	Tap in side view, hand below, two lines from tap to hand, two arcs indicating drops
50	Unknown	Tap in side view, hand below, two drops near hand, all in outline
	Forster	Detail from tap, hand below, five dotted lines from tap to hand
54	O'72	Cone made of dots, hand inserted
55	Unknown	Cone made of dashed lines, hand inserted
	Düsseldorf Airport	Cone made of dots, outline of a hand below
	Aicher OAP	Cone made of dots, two hands below
48	SSRS	Side view of human figure next to wash bowl, hands near face
32	O'68	Tap in side view, cup below

Note: Some of the examples shown above were mirrored horizontally to contrast differences.

Discussion

The range of pictograms shown in the table above gives a good hint of the image contents used to signify Handwashing Facility or Washroom. No single visual stereotype can be identified, but images showing a tap in side view with a hand below and some kind of water representation like several dotted lines from tap to hand seem to be most common.

Data from tests is rather limited:

In a study sponsored by the Austrian Railways and the Austrian Standards Institute (Brugger, 1995) eight pictograms were examined using the Comprehensibility Estimation procedure. In this test, which was conducted in Austria only, the three pictograms showing a hand in a flowing stream of water below a tap performed best with scores between 75 and 71. On the contrary, especially the variant from the Summer Olympics Mexico 1968, labeled O'68 in the table above and presented as Washroom in the collections of Aicher & Krampen (1977, page 122), was judged as rather incomprehensible with a mean estimation value of 32. We would have expected this variant as example for Drinking Water. The numbers next to the pictograms in the table above are the mean estimation values reported for the corresponding pictograms in this study.

No data is available for variants showing more than one hand, like the safety sign M011: Wash Your Hands from ISO 7010 or Otl Aicher's pictogram No 80: Please Wash Your Hands.

Recommendations

Hora page 152: CNIS Pictogram Washroom

Based on test results available we recommend the use of a pictogram similar to the ones available from from the Chinese standard GB/T 10001 (CNIS) or or Tern Pictogram TS0647 Handwashing Facility as they seem to be sufficiently comprehensible.

We further suggest to conduct a Comprehension Test comparing this concept with designs like safety sign M011: Wash Your Hands from ISO 7010, but on neutral background, to correct this recommendation if necessary.

Tests of pictograms of referent Handwashing Facility / Washroom

Brugger, Ch. (1995): ÖBB / ON Testserie 1995, Teil 1 Verständnisschätzungen nach ISO 9186. Report to ÖBB GD 02 (Austrian Railways) dated January 1995, Vienna.